Iraq:A Sunni sheikh whose alliance with US forces was held up as a beacon of hope for Iraq was killed by a bomb outside his home yesterday, days after a high-profile meeting with George Bush.
Abdul Sattar Abu Risha had been the living embodiment of the co-operation between US forces and local clans in the fight against Sunni extremists in Anbar province. He was so well regarded by America that he was offered an audience with Mr Bush during his six-hour visit to Iraq last week. The pair were photographed shaking hands.
The White House condemned his killing. "This is a sheikh who was one of the first to come forward to want to work with the United States to repel al-Qaeda from Anbar province," the White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said. "This is the kind of enemy we are dealing with."
Gen David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, called the sheikh's death a tragedy. "It's a terrible loss for Anbar province and all of Iraq. It shows his importance and it shows al-Qaeda in Iraq remains a very dangerous and barbaric enemy. He was an organising force that did help organise alliances and did help keep the various tribes together."
Early reports said Abu Risha, who was in his 30s, was killed by a car bomb or a device planted on the roadside near his home in Ramadi. At least two of his bodyguards also died in the explosion.
The sheikh's death came as Mr Bush was about to present his case for keeping a strong US presence in Iraq to a war-weary public and a restive Congress in an address from the Oval Office last night.
Gen Petraeus had called the rejection of al-Qaeda by Sunni tribes "the most significant development of the past eight months". Only a year ago, US officials had given Anbar up as politically lost.
Abu Risha had been the most visible local advocate of that turnabout, giving interviews to Arabic satellite channels calling for an end to extremism.
The general said the success of America's alliance with the Sunni tribes under Abu Risha in driving al-Qaeda out of Anbar had persuaded him that it was possible to begin pulling out US forces without compromising security on the ground. Such gains were so crucial to Mr Bush's calculations on selling his war plan to the US public last night that he did not even go to Baghdad during his lightning trip to Iraq. He spent his entire visit at the US air base in Anbar, meeting tribal leaders and members of the Baghdad government.
- (Guardian service)